Hattons Model Railways to close

[bradfordbuffer]

3 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Yes.

The website has gone down now, so the section I was looking at has disappeared🙂

Paradoxically....it will be crashed as everyone is looking to see if its crashed🙈

[Widnes Model Centre]

20 hours ago, big jim said:

One thing that has become apparent with this thread is you can’t judge how old someone is by their on line profile when you read ‘i first dealt with them 50 years ago’ from someone you visualised as being about 30 years old! 

I didn’t realise how many railway modellers lived so close to me when l lived on Ullet  Road near to Hattons. One poster was even the paper boy in the newsagents opposite, just like me.

Great memories 

 

There is an interview with Richard Davies currently available on BBC Sounds, Radio Merseyside.

l can’t see how to share it, so Google might be your friend. Attached the image so you know what to look for. 

[jaym481]

My final order went it late last night - early morning GMT. I made sure to include a Hattons tea mug for £2. 

 

Regarding some of the large blocks of items disappearing at once, their website now says they are open to offers from trade and resellers, so that is certainly a factor.

[rogerzilla]

Rails and Kernow are the big two now, I think.  Less competition is always bad news, and I had some bargains from Hattons over the years.

[melmerby]

I'm back where I was and trying to add to the cart - unsuccessfully🙂

[jaym481]

6 minutes ago, rogerzilla said:

Rails and Kernow are the big two now, I think.  Less competition is always bad news, and I had some bargains from Hattons over the years.

From an international customer perspective Hattons had the best postage rates, and with their checkout including the weight of the item, one could tailor an order to a particular postage rate. Plus the Trunk service. Those innovations alone will be most missed by me.

[TimberValleyRailway]

Quote

There is an interview with Richard Davies currently available on BBC Sounds, Radio Merseyside.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0h3yp1m?fbclid=IwAR3Sje7mkS0JA6bYtREVVNo4hGTXXNrcwnYkmb74FWtccGIMUE7S0Hhp6LM

[vikingsmb]

i cant get on the site either

[bradfordbuffer]

3 minutes ago, Widnes Model Centre said:

I didn’t realise how many railway modellers lived so close to me when l lived on Ullet  Road near to Hattons. One poster was even the paper boy in the newsagents opposite, just like me.

Great memories 

 

There is an interview with Richard Davies currently available on BBC Sounds, Radio Merseyside.

l can’t see how to share it, so Google might be your friend. Attached the image so you know what to look for. 

Born into langdale Rd then out of town for a few years then back to Blantyre Road from about 12 till getting job on railway! Also member of Liverpool model railway club when at the The Gregson Memorial Institute on Garmoyle Road, spitting distance down Kentmere Rd to hattons! Cycling to Sefton Park always window dreaming at 180!

 

One other shout out is to rm web as its been a focal point for everyone's comments which I'm sure staff and owners will take some comfort it the part they have played in lots of modelers life's. 

 

Has this been the 'biggest thing on rmweb analytically?

G

[SouthernBlue80s]

A bit sad about this. like many I bought my first loco from Hattons and allways had good service from them.

I wish their staff well.

[vikingsmb]

4 hours ago, Star-rider said:

My best wishes and thanks to the staff and management of Hattons for a lifetime (for me) of service.

 

I too was shocked as I came to this news today, it one of those institutions you feel would somehow always be there.

 

I still have a memory of being taken there by my dad, probably in the mid or late 1960’s as he mopped up a little of the original Hornby Dublo stock they were clearing. Later in life I made my own visits to both of the Smithdown Road shops, plus a couple of visits to the Widnes warehouse. As a motorcyclist I’m often looking for a destination for a ride out and when there was a special purchase in mind it was an enjoyable day out to have a run up the A41 from the West Midlands knowing that there will be something shiny and new in the rucksack for the ride home.

 

The mail order service was also excellent, most of the big retailers handle this well but the “trunk” service was particularly innovative for getting those smaller bits and pieces at a sensible shipping cost.

 

The only reason they saw so little of my money in the last few years is that the major manufacturers aren’t producing anything I want to buy.

hattons have been brilliant, and im the same the major manufacturers dont cater for pre tops blue much

[The Stationmaster]

19 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

 

With that missive you would think a big manufacturer had announced it was shutting up shop.

 

I repeat we are talking about a RETAILER here!

 

Yes that retailer also did design / manufacture several very good models but designing / manufacturing models is NOT the CORE of Hattons activities.

 

Yes there are indeed significant issues facing UK consumers at present, and yes the retail environment is incredibly hostile at present - yet Rapido, Acurascale and Dapol to name but 3 manufacturers are still continuing to announce and deliver high quality / expensive models - and I doubt they do this simply so they can lose their owners money! 

 

 As such can you ditch all this "the hobby is doomed nonsense" worthy of a dads army episode and get things in proportion!

 

 

Quite true Phil but they are a retailer used by many and, so I'm told, their 'trunk' system is particularly usefiul to overseas customers..

 

The interesting things is that apart from standing aside their drop in total revenue between 2021 and 2022 their total revenue would have been roughly equal (albeit by a bit of extrapolation) to Hornby's total UK model railway sales revenue.  The UK model railway element is obviously only a part of Hornby's total revenue but it is salutary to reflect that it is probably in the same sort of ball park area as Hattons total sales revenue.  In other words Hattons is along way from being a minnow in theUK model railway business

 

Financially Hattons look to be a pretty solid business but in their year end June 2022 accounts they showed a serious year-on-yer decline.  If that decline has continued - and the announcement has come after the first half of their June 2024 year end (not published) results - it's not difficult to see why they are winding up the business.  They aren't running away with their tail between their legs but are closing while they are still in reasonable shape and before things get bad - which strikes me as very sensible.

 

I think there's probably more to their decline in revenue than the economic situation,  thweir ealirer business n model ceased to be really viable some time back although that doesn't seem to have resulted in too much damage to their business.  Hwever what has happened is that their competitive situation in the marketplace had changed which might have been to their disadvantage in a tightening market.  In addition we do know for them - but not their competitors - that their cost ofsales costs are high - c.79% in their 2022 accounts - and unless costs have been trimmed that percentage will have risen if sales have continued to decline.

[Cyberspice]

23 hours ago, Metropolitan said:

Of course they have!

 

No they haven't. Because if they had, then their legal advisors would have advised them to shut the doors immediately. It is illegal to trade whilst insolvent. Its is contrary to the companies act. Any director found trading whilst insolvent is struck off at a minimum and the details handed over to the Police.

[maico]

14 minutes ago, TimberValleyRailway said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0h3yp1m?fbclid=IwAR3Sje7mkS0JA6bYtREVVNo4hGTXXNrcwnYkmb74FWtccGIMUE7S0Hhp6LM

 

Interesting interview. The original ehattons site was based on high volumes and lower margins however established manufacturing brands work hard to establish brand value. Typically one method is to try and control retailers pricing and stamp out rampant discounting. When Bachmann and Hornby stopped dumping stock Hatton's business model was redundant and needed to be restructured particularly with the worsening supply situation from those 2 companies.

One thing they did was manufacture under their own brand. I think reliability issues on a few of those models probably burnt them.

 

 

 

 

[Marshall5]

50 minutes ago, Widnes Model Centre said:

I didn’t realise how many railway modellers lived so close to me when l lived on Ullet  Road near to Hattons. One poster was even the paper boy in the newsagents opposite, just like me.

Great memories 

 

There is an interview with Richard Davies currently available on BBC Sounds, Radio Merseyside.

l can’t see how to share it, so Google might be your friend. Attached the image so you know what to look for. 

Who else remembers looking into that window to the right of the door to see the 'bargains' marked with Norman's trademark phrase "Needs Attention"?  Happy days!

Ray.

[APOLLO]

Had a trip to The Trafford Centre at Manchester today, a large modern shopping & leisure centre just out of the City. Footfall seemed pretty decent for a January Tuesday, but what WAS noticeable after my last visit early last year was the increased amount of empty and vinyld over shop units, some quite large ones too. A couple of shops had sales "Everything to go" - very sad.

 

I bought a couple of Railway mags from WH Smith (we lost ours in Wigan a while ago), a walk round the boring (to me) other shops, a burger and a pint then the tram back to Manchester Vic & train home. 

 

The weather was cold but sunny and bright (hence the day out) - very unusual for Manchester !!

 

Retail (all descriptions, not just model shops) seems to be dying a slow death everywhere. As to my home town Wigan - err, that's why I went to Manchester. 

 

The Galleries, Wigan. Built 1988, 60 retail units. Demolition currently in progress, to be replaced with housing and a small leisure facility. A shame it could not have been repurposed, but such is life.

 

 

 

Lets all hope for brighter retail news as 2024 progresses.

 

Brit15

[John M Upton]

The fact remains that in this Internet age, high street retail is dead, we have become a nation of coffee shops and very little else.  Ironically, Hattons moved to be an online retailer in preference to a high street bricks and mortar shop in the traditional sense and still wound up in its current impending fate which shows even online retail is not the be all and end all of everything.

 

You see a lot of people in the local press complaining about high street shops closing and crying out in annoyance when yet another coffee shop/restaurant/takeaway announces they are opening but I have found those making the most noise are those who hardly ever use high street retail anyway!!!

 

I really cannot see any way back for high street retailing as a whole, no amount of Government funding or social media support will revive the corpse now.

 

On a side note, Hattons bought a US Railroad retailer last year, are they done for as well?  No one seems to know the answer.

Edited January 9 by John M Upton

[johnofwessex]

Well there are a lot of plain black 0 gauge Terriers for sale if anyone's interested!

[melmerby]

It's quite clear that the website is under tremendous strain at the moment because items added to cart are not getting there or taking up to 10mins.

Hardly surprising considering what's happening, I'll persevere

 

It's taken 2 hours to get 8 items, 3 of which are now in the trunk, a further five are stuck in the cart and going nowhere at the mo!

 

Edit

They've just gone into the trunk.

That's it for now.

Edited January 9 by melmerby

[TheSignalEngineer]

9 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

Retail (all descriptions, not just model shops) seems to be dying a slow death everywhere. As to my home town Wigan - err, that's why I went to Manchester.

We're very much in the same boat unless you need a takeaway, charity shop or Turkish Barber. A greengrocery which started in a neighbouring town when Norman Hatton was still in the army is closing shortly. They have been trying to get someone to take the business on for 18 months but haven't had a viable offer and it's the same with one of our two butchers who wants to retire. The other butcher has closed one branch and his abbatoir as it was no longer viable to run it on a small scale. Co-op, Iceland and Halfords all gone and our last shoe shop which had been there for about 50 years recently closed. The local market place has just about died but the Council won't admit it. We've lost Barclays, Natwest, HSBC and the two building societies leaving just Lloyds for over the counter banking. 

[wombatofludham]

This isn't the time or thread to discuss the end of retailing but I will say this, some planning departments had anticipated this some time ago and have interesting and innovative plans in place to repurpose town centres as "occasion" shopping destinations, with smaller, specialist shopping mixed in with catering and community uses.  Whilst the days of big shopping centres are gone, if you look at places like Chester, York and Camden Market they provide a blueprint for the future of the town centre so long as the landlords, mainly big financial undertakings, accept that their punishing "upward only rental agreements" can no longer be sustainable long term.  My local town centre, Dolgellau, has a range of smaller shops that for the most part are pitched at locals, the town not being on the tourist map, which focus on local food produce, and stuff for household needs.  We even have a traditional ironmonger, and two non-chain electrical stores.  That said it does help that the nearest crinkly tin sheds of chain retailers are Shrewsbury, Wrexham, Aberystwyth, Chester, Llandudno and Dublin.

[New Haven Neil]

1 hour ago, Widnes Model Centre said:

I didn’t realise how many railway modellers lived so close to me when l lived on Ullet  Road

 

I lived in Whitman Street and then Buckingham...Ave?  77-79, so yes!

Edited January 9 by New Haven Neil

[APOLLO]

Who would want to be in (or dare enter) UK retail in 2024 ?

 

Is there a shortage of money ? - Apparently not reading of the current Hattons sale. But most are bargain hunting.

But in general, many people have cut back on non essential shopping, and it's the dead period just after Christmas.

 

Is there a shortage of stock ? - Well China (who make most things) are going through a difficult time apparently. But shops I saw today seemed well stocked. W H Smith had a good selection of Railway & Modelling Mags, including USA mags.

 

Is there a shortage of Shoppers ? - My trains and trams today were well patronised with shoppers (travelled off peak both ways).

 

Bank interest rates, Rent, Business Rates, Wage Bills, Tax, Energy and other overheads ? - All expensive these days and increasing. Not good for any business owner.

 

But I agree, On line retaiers (Amazon etc)  are taking over. I'm getting fed up of saying to the twins when a van pulls up outside and I hear a knock on the door, "Here's Mr Bezos, the world's (second ?) richest man, invite him in for a cup of tea" !!!!!

 

Yet Hattons are (were) a mainly on line retailer, with a large and seemingly loyal customer base and worldwide customers. Perhaps they saw the writing on the wall (A few years ago, Walton Prison, Liverpool, painted on the wall, Appearing soon, Ken Dodd  !!).

 

They have decided to bail out and close the business in an orderly and honourable way. 

 

Brit15

 

 

 

[moawkwrd]

5 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

 

Indeed

 

We all know in practical terms thats going to be the effect but it seems in rather poor taste to actually say it, particularly so soon after the closure was announced

It is much needed balance from a larger perspective however, as there must certainly be a number of small local model shops which couldn’t compete over the past 20 years as Hattons grew and grew and came to dominate online sales in the hobby with their innovations, customer service and sheer volume.
 

Such a big player leaving the market will undoubtedly offer more sales opportunities to other retailers, particularly smaller ones, some of whom are struggling all the same. A small silver lining in terms of the hobby as a whole, perhaps. 
 

And who knows, some Hattons staff may well benefit from opportunities arising from such a redistribution of market share.

Edited January 9 by moawkwrd

[MartynJPearson]

Re the pre-orders email, I got one this morning too. Turned out that my order for some track that I made yesterday evening couldn't be completely fulfilled - presumably several of us were buying at the same time, so the item that was no longer in stock had gone into my pre-orders.